As You Like It: Those Who Can, Teach

Everyone thinks they can teach. They think, “What can be so hard about standing in front of a room full of kids and talking?

Before I entered the ranks of teachers I thought the same thing. And then I stood in front of my first class of high school sophomores and I wanted to eat my words, semicolons and all, and then put my head down on my desk and cry.

And everyone thinks they know exactly how to fix schools that don’t “work.”

“Hey, you get rid of the “bad” teachers and their pain-in-the-neck unions, lay some discipline on those kids and that’s that.”

 The term “bad teacher” always makes me wince. That’s probably why, when I read the following article written by James Vaznis in the January 8^th Boston Globe, I wanted to put my head down on my desk once again.

“Superintendents would gain broad new powers to make dramatic changes at the state’s worst schools, including the removal of ineffective teachers, under the education bill approved by the House early yesterday.

At a press conference outside his City Hall office yesterday morning, Menino said the bill was, “made in heaven. This is a new era for all of us when it comes to public education.”

The Globe article went on to say that this “new era” is coming to us courtesy of two converging events: The first:

A January 19 deadline to apply for a portion of $4 billion in new federal stimulus aid reserved for states pursuing dramatic and innovative overhauls of public education. If chosen, Massachusetts could reap $250 million from the “Race to the Top’’ fund.

And the second:

A persistent achievement gap among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. Massachusetts has one of the widest achievement gaps in the nation even though students as a whole often score the highest on national standardized tests.

Forgive me if I seem a bit skeptical of this latest bill made in heaven and the brave new era that it will usher in. While I agree that there is definitely a need to close the achievement gap, since as a GED school director I grapple with the results of it everyday, I can’t help wonder why people always believe that progress can only be achieved on the backs of teachers. Progress shouldn’t be a polarizing event but a community effort. You can’t fix anything if you don’t look at the big picture.

I embraced teaching, as many of us did, resolved to change the world. I would be the teacher that everyone remembered till their dying day. I would be the eternal light for every weary high school English student, inspiring new Chaucers and Shakespeares. But if I thought that it was hard teaching high school it is only now, teaching adults, that I fully understand how great the challenge truly is.

I have a game that I play with the elementary school kids who come to the Blackstone Community Center’s after school programs. They gather in my computer room before they take off for their various activities, and after greeting them I warn them in my most serious tone of voice, “I never want to see you in my program, okay?” The more experienced ones smile at the inside joke about not dropping out of school, while the new kids look at me wondering why I don’t like them. At that point the veterans explain, “She teaches people who never finished school and you don’t want to be like that.”

Yesterday Elena, a fourth grader, told me, “You don’t have to worry about me, Miss Joan. I’m going to finish high school and then college and then medical school. I’m going to be a veterinarian!” I wanted to cry but I smiled and said, “And you’re going to be a fantastic one! You go girl!” 

When I ask my adults why they left school, I hear as many answers as there are students. They had to work, they were pregnant, bored, they were afraid of the gangs. But one reason that repeats and reverberates is that they felt that nobody really cared if they showed up or not. All the money that was spent, all the testing that was done, all the reorganization that was carried out came down to one simple reality: failed relationships. I use that knowledge in my school. My staff knows that none of our students is allowed to feel alone.

It seems to be working. I’m losing one of my best teachers, Greg, who forged a community out of disparate adults. They come week after week, ready to learn. Greg has them doing projects, research, reading, math, science, and they drink it all down like the water they never had.

He calls them when they don’t show up, supports them, cajoles them into wanting to succeed. I subbed for him last week and felt like I was teaching a class filled with sponges. Thankfully I’ve found a new teacher to take his place who seems to have the same fire. Because, cliché or not, that’s what students need — teachers who give a damn. Teachers who respect them because their work is respected. Teachers who are treated as professionals, who are included in decisions that will affect them and their students.

One thing they do not need is legislators determined to push through, as a spokesman for Senate President Therese Murray told the Globe, “a quick resolution…”

Because building a future is never quick.

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Posted by Joan Florek Schottenfeld on Jan 14 2010. Filed under As You Like It, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.